Over a person's life, plaque builds up in their arteries in a condition sometimes known as hardened arteries. The accumulation of plaque can pose a serious threat of a stroke or heart attack, even in cases in which no symptoms emerge and the person lives unawares of the threat. To help identify people that are at risk of a stroke or heart attack, doctors use imaging systems to look inside of a patient's blood vessels and study the plaque.
Typical intravascular imaging systems, such as intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) systems, include a long, thin catheter that is connected to a computer-controlled imaging system. The doctor inserts the catheter into the patient's blood vessels and the tip of the catheter takes a picture from within the blood vessel. The picture can be displayed on a monitor so that the doctor can see and examine any plaque buildup.
It is common for the catheter to be a single-use, disposable part and for the imaging system to include a control station, computer, monitor and other components. Each imaging operation requires a doctor to scrub in, unwrap a new catheter, connect it to the system, and perform the imaging operation. Since the image is transferred from the catheter into the computer in the form of electrical signals, each catheter must make a reliable electrical contact with the system. Unfortunately, existing imaging catheters have fragile connection mechanisms.
In the existing catheters, the signal wires are connected to metal rings that are spaced apart by a number of plastic slugs and all of the parts are mounted as an assemblage along a central core. Not only are these connectors difficult and expensive to make, they can fall apart if misassembled or mishandled. Additionally, it has been observed that the structure of existing catheters is associated with misuse. Sometimes they are not inserted properly, and the necessary electrical contacts are not made. Since existing catheters do not always provide satisfactory results, imaging operations can require do-overs—the catheter is withdrawn and discarded and a new one is used. This increases the cost, complexity, and risk of complications in intravascular imaging procedures. Also, the scale of the components used in existing catheters places a limit on the image information that can be electrically transmitted into the computer system. Since only a few electrical contacts can be disposed along the mating portion of existing catheter connectors, it is difficult to incorporate new functionality into the imaging transducers, as there is not room at the connection jacks to add more connection points.